DURING LOW SPEED, BOLTS BECAME LOOSE AND COMPLETELY DROPPED OUT OF LOWER CONTROL ARM CAUSING ONE WHEEL TO VEER TO THE RIGHT. VERY CONCERNING THAT CRITICAL STEERING COMPONENTS DO NOT HAVE A CASTLE NUT AND COTTER PIN, IF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN HIGH-SPEED THERE COULD HAVE BEEN LOSS OF LIFE. TESLA IS FAILING TO ADDRESS CONCERNS OF SAFETY, THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER REPORTS OF THESE BOLTS COMING LOOSE.*DT Consumer concerned about the noise and vibration while driving and brought the car in for inspection on 9/1/20 to a Tesla dealer. Dealer stated rim was bent which caused the vibration and the bolts became loose after an impact with a speed bump. Consumer having a hard time understanding how low speed impact could cause a grade 8 bolt to become loose.
2018 Tesla Model 3 steering complaints
Page 4 of 4: complaints 71 to 85 of 85, newest first, as owners wrote them.
This is a complaint about suspension failures in teslas. There has been a crash in italy which is almost certainly caused by a broken suspension. The VIN of a junkyard tesla has been used to complete this online submission since the VIN of the car is unknown. The crash injured 2 people. Https://ladige.it/territori/riva-arco/2021/04/11/riva-la-lussuosa-tesla-si-schianta-in-galleria-feriti-un-ragazzo-di-pinzolo-e-una-ragazza-di-torbole-1.2884987#2 the crash scene photographs show a tesla with 3 wheels. The back wheel has fallen off. Skid marks on the road show only 3 tire marks. These skid marks could not have been caused by the driver intentionally swerving and braking please include this crash in your investigation into tesla suspension failures. Thank you.
The car was pulling very hard to the left. Took it to tesla service center. They gave me an estimate of nearly $6000 to replace control arms and bushings and steering rack etc. They said the parts were damaged from "outside influence". Whatever that means. The car is 18 months old and has 29,000 miles. No accidents or damage ever. This is a major manufacturing defect that could have had disastrous outcomes if I did not pick up on the symptoms first. This is in absolutely no way related to any "outside influence". This is a defect plain and simple, and a major public safety issue, to say the least. Tesla refused to cover the repairs under warranty, and I am trying to work though the california arbitration process now. I will have to rent a vehicle for weeks out of pocket while this process is pending.
Sorry to trouble you again ...but.. Here is a model 3 in the junkyard. Https://www.iaai.com/vehicledetails/37236422?rownumber=9 the suspension fell off and it's lying on the ground. Have a look please. This is not good. Not good at all. Thank you. Keef
Driving on the 101 freeway in santa barbara. Road was wet after a light rain at around 6:30am. Was in the middle lane, very light traffic, on a wide curve. Was not speeding, accelerating, braking or steering. Was not using autopilot. Tires had 11,000 miles and tread was still good. Car all of a sudden spun out of control, turning 180 degrees and crashed against a concrete center divider. I have a video saved from the car's cameras of the entire accident. You can see a car preceding me in the same lane at a similar speed, was not affected. When driving the tesla on other raining days during the year I had the sensation that the car did not handle well on wet roads, slipping when accelerating. The insurance now owns the car so I don't have access to the black box but I know that tesla has the data from the crash which they are not sharing with me. The called me 10 minutes after the crash noting that I had crashed and asked me if I was ok. A short video of the crash is available here: https://youtu.be/gyqyxgeot94 I have video from the other cameras too, as well as video footage before this segment.
On 11/28/19 at around 5:30-6:00am, while driving on the 5 south freeway near the atlantic ave off ramp, the car swerved to the right on its own. I could not control the car'it had a mind of its own. The brakes and steering wheel did not respond to me. I don't know what happened. I don't know if the side camera thought the SUV was veering into my lane because the rain distorted its view or what but it was very scary. It was as if the car was driving itself even though autopilot was not on. I could not right the car after the initial swerve, it kept on going, heading towards the exit but ended up going over an embankment, heading straight for a tree before turning and sideswiping it and coming to a stop. Thank goodness no one was hurt. It was still dark and it was raining but not pouring. The freeway was empty. I was in the 3rd lane and there was a black SUV right next to me in the lane #2. I did not see it veer into me; we were both going about 70mph in our own lanes. I had both hands on the wheel, no music was playing and autopilot was not on'though navigation on autopilot was activated. I contacted tesla right away and they texted that the incident team and engineering team were looking into it, downloading the data (I did not have a USB so I don't have any recording of anything). So far, I have not heard back from these tesla teams and my car still has collision damage as the tesla rep I spoke with advised me to wait on the findings and not to contact my insurance company in case they find tesla's at fault. Tesla service center did check out my car on 12/2/19 and released it to me, deeming that it was safe to drive. I have not driven the car in the rain while it's dark since. I've just recently realized that your department investigates these types of incidents and thought I should reach out.
My tesla model 3 has a defect with autopilot sensors and sound. When on autopilot (adaptive cruise control), the sensors can sometimes freeze up and or fail, causing autopilot to cease functioning and issue an audio alert. However, system sound (blinkers, notification alert system) sometimes fails, thus preventing the autopilot from alerting the driver that it will no longer be breaking and or steering. For example, I am driving using the autopilot cruise control, which is supposed to steer /brake/accelerate for me and instructed to keep eyes on the road, however, when the autopilot stops working as well as the audio notification, the driver will not know that it has failed and the car no longer brakes, thus making it likely to have a collision. I have recorded the flaws and defects and have it on video. This can happen anywhere, on highway or on a regular road. Tesla has been unable to fix the problem.
Over 5000 miles of driving, there is a significant amount of vibration and buffeting in car at any speed over 45mph. Tesla service has had eight opportunities to resolve this, to no avail. The tires have been replaced to eliminate this as a possibility, and the wheels checked for runout - all measure very good. Suspension components or control arms are the likely culprits. In addition to the suspension components failing after less than 5000 miles, the drivers seats on most all model 3 are loose and rock back and forth, with tesla saying it is 'within specifications'. This could be another serious safety concern in the event of a crash, as it is unclear why the seat disturbing becomes loose with normal use. After discussing with other model 3 owners with identical issues, it is clear that this is a inherent vehicle / parts problem, and tesla is doing the least possible to address these concerns.
This is a complaint about a new development in the tesla autopilot experiment. Electrek which is a very influential tesla publicity publication has just released a highly irresponsible article and video. Https://electrek.co/2019/09/19/tesla-autopilot-v10-commute-without-driver-intervention/ this even shows the tesla fitted with a "nag defeater" on the steering wheel. This is going to cause owners to have even more misplaced confidence in the autopilot and will most certainly cause more deaths. Please stop this dangerous experiment which is recklessly endangering innocent road users. Please note that I have used the VIN of a wrecked tesla model 3 so as to be able to file this complaint. I am not a tesla owner but I have to share the public roads with these lethal vehicles. Thank you. Note - dummy USA address used to negotiate your website. Correct name and address supplied with this complaint.
Model 3 in junkyard. Not in a crash. No air-bags gone off. Front suspension arm snapped off. Steering tie-rod snapped off. Tesla seems to be procuring its steering and suspension components from a pretzel factory. Please investigate. Concerned citizen etc. Thank you. Have a fantastic day.
I was driving northbound on ca hwy 101 when I initiated a lane change from left to right with autopilot engaged. After beginning to make the lane change to the right, the car abruptly veered back into the left lane, then slowly started to move back into the right lane. It was at that time that I disengaged the autopilot.
On 2 occasions, when I was driving in enhanced auto-pilot and engaged auto lane change, the car started changing lanes, then abruptly swerved back into my original lane. On the first occasion, it is possible I did not push the lane change indicator down far enough. On the second occasion, this was not the case. The indicator was pushed down all the way, I looked behind me and coast was clear. It's not at all apparent why the car aborted the lane change. It was raining. I was driving the speed limit, 55 MPH on a 4-5 lane highway and I was in a middle lane, changing tinto another middle lane. In the first incident, I was driving on the same highway, no rain.
While traveling on enhanced autopilot and changing lanes using the direction stalk, I have noted that the vehicle has occasionally swerved back into the original lane before completing the lane change. This happened to me three times during my drive from palm springs to san diego on november 12. It happened twice on changing to the left lane and once while changing to the right. On none of these occasions was a vehicle in the next lane or accelerating in that lane towards the vehicle. Needless to say, it was a bit alarming. Other owners have reported this as well as noted in https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/autopilot-random-lane-changes-and-swerves.
I have had a series of escalating incidents (see attached pdf) that have each involved the vehicle disabling automatic emergency braking system (ABS), traction control, partial steering control, regenerative braking (for electric vehicle), and most recently experienced complete loss of steering function while reversing as well as an additional warning that my airbag was disabled. Initially I was advised to reset my car since it may be a software glitch similar to a computer or phone needing a restart. After several incidents, I was advised to take it to a service center where I was informed that it was a firmware issues known to tesla, but experienced a critical shut down of my vehicle's performance and safety functions the next day. I have seen been informed that they have replaced the high voltage regulator and the wiring harness. I have not received an update since confirming that they believe the latest repair will make the car whole, safe, and functional.
Here is a video that has just been uploaded to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4guhsmipiq4 this owner thinks it is perfectly safe to jam some fruit in the steering wheel to eliminate the "hold steering wheel" nags. He does not seem to be a complete idiot. The problem is that he has been mislead by the hype spread by tesla and ceo elon musk. Despite several fatal crashes musk is still spreading the message that the federal safety agency found autopilot is 40% safer than a human driver. The federal safety agency has now revealed that the claim was based on tesla's own (unverified) data. More people will die unless this uncontrolled and highly dangerous experiment is halted immediately. Please do something. Thank you. Deeply concerned citizen.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2018 Tesla Model 3?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history